Risks to the Public

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-15
Author(s):  
Peter G. Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Computer Systems ◽  
Strong Sense ◽  
Risk Awareness ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Media ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Security And Reliability

Mini-editorial (PGN) 2020 was a crazy year, with all kinds of risks on display. As usual, many of the lessons noted in past issues of SEN and RISKS have been largely ignored, and failures continue to mirror events from the past that have long been discussed here. Issues such as safety, security, and reliability always seem to need more foresight than they receive. Y2K con- tinues to hit somewhere each New Year's Day, when short- term remediations that demanded periodic upgrading have been forgotten. (I suppose old COBOL code will still ex- ist in year 2100, when there may be ambiguities relating to dates that could be 21xx or 20xx (although 19xx is unlikely), and the narrow windowing xes will fail even more dramati- cally.) Election integrity continues to be a real concern, where we are caught in the crosshairs between computer systems and networks that are not meaningfully trustworthy or au- ditable, and the nontechnological risks are still pervasive from unbalanced redistricting, creative dysinformation, poli- tics, Citzens United, and foreign interference. We need non- partisan scrutiny and defense against would-be subverters to overcome potential attacks and inadvertent mistakes. In pres- ence of potential risks in every part of the process, a strong sense of risk-awareness is required by voters, election officials, and the media (both proactively and remedially, as needed).

Music Training and Nonmusical Abilities: Introduction

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Glenn Schellenberg ◽  
Ellen Winner
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Music Training ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Academic Benefits ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Media ◽  
New Research

the objective of this special issue of Music Perception, which includes contributions from researchers based in Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the US, is to present the best new research on associations between music training and nonmusical abilities. Scholarly interest in associations between music training and nonmusical cognitive functioning has sparked much research over the past 15–20 years. The study of how far associations between music training and cognitive abilities extend, and whether such associations are more likely for some domains of cognition than for others, has theoretical relevance for issues of transfer, modularity, and plasticity. Unlike most other areas of scientific inquiry, there is parallel interest on the part of the public, the media, and educators who want to know if nonmusical intellectual and academic benefits are a welcome by-product of sending children to music lessons. Indeed, some educators and arts advocates justify music training in schools precisely because of these presumed and desired nonmusical associations.

“Nothing but Words”? Chronicling and Storytelling in Robert Coover's The Public Burning

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-186
Author(s):  
THEOPHILUS SAVVAS
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Atomic Bomb ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Narrative Methods ◽  
The Public ◽  
Richard Nixon ◽  
The Past ◽  
Third Person ◽  
The Media ◽  
American Society

Robert Coover's 1977 novel The Public Burning is a dramatic re-presentation of the last three days of the lives of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Dubbed the “atomic spies” by the media, the Rosenbergs were accused of passing on the “secret” of the atomic bomb to the Russians. The sensational trial provoked widespread attention for its seeming encapsulation of the fault lines in American society opened up by anticommunism and the emergent Cold War. Found guilty, they were the first American nationals to be executed for espionage. This paper analyses the different narrative methods that Coover employs to re-present the past. In particular I focus on Coover's juxtaposition of a third-person, seemingly omniscient, narrator with the first-person narratological voice of then Vice President Richard Nixon. I suggest that we can best understand this not simply as providing objective and subjective versions of the event, as some critics have claimed, but rather as a distinction between history as chronicle (or what I call a synchronic method of history), and history as storytelling (or diachrony). Through this The Public Burning becomes not just a satirical critique of the specific political culture of the time, I contend, but, more fundamentally, a general exploration of the difficulties of reconstituting past events into knowledge. It is here, perhaps, where the novel's continuing relevance for today lies.

“Tanked up Yobs” and “Self-Pity City”. Deconstructing the Myths of the Hillsborough Disaster

STADION ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-75
Author(s):  
Alan McDougall
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
British History ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
Grassroots Activism ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Government Legislation

On 15 April 1989, Liverpool FC played Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield in northern England. Catastrophic errors by the police and other organisations led to the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters, crushed against the perimeter fences on the Leppings Lane terrace. Though the horrific facts of the disaster were quickly and widely known, they were lost beneath another narrative, promoted by the police, numerous politicians, and large sections of the media. This narrative blamed the disaster on “tanked up yobs”: drunk and aggressive Liverpool supporters, who turned up late and forced their way into the ground. Over the subsequent years and decades, as Hillsborough campaigners vainly sought justice for the disaster’s victims in a series of trials and inquests, the destructive allegation remained in the public realm. It was reinforced by establishment dismissal of Liverpool as a “self-pity city”, home to a community incapable of accepting official verdicts or of leaving the past in the past. This essay uncovers the history of the myths of the Hillsborough disaster. It first shows how these myths were established - how false narratives, with powerful backers, shifted responsibility for the disaster from the police to supporters, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It then examines how these myths were embedded in public discourse - how Liverpool was demonised as an aggressively sentimental city where people refused to admit to “killing their own”. It finally analyses how these myths were overturned through research, media mobilisation, and grassroots activism, a process that culminated in the 2016 inquest verdict, which ruled that the 96 Hillsborough victims were unlawfully killed. In doing so, the essay shows how Hillsborough became a key event in modern British history, influencing everything from stadium design to government legislation.

Journalism Education in India: Quest for Professionalism or Incremental Responses

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjay Parthasarathy Bharthur
Keyword(s):  
Journalism Education ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Private Institutions ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
The Past ◽  
Constant Friction ◽  
Education In India ◽  
The Media ◽  
Different Levels

Journalism education in India is framed in the higher education system, comprising of programs in the universities, both government-supported and media-backed private institutions, as well as in-service and short-term courses offered by press associations and other organizations. They are offered at different levels from certificate to diploma to both undergraduates and postgraduates. Due to requirements of the media industry, there is a constant friction about the need to balance the academic and professional aspects in the curriculum. This has led to skepticism in the past about the relevance of formal journalism education. However, with globalization and growth of the media sector, there is an enhanced need for professionals. Many big media groups have launched journalism programs. Institutional and professional aspects of the programs in India and issues pertaining to curriculum, responses, and critique have been factored in this article.

scholarly journals The brain seduction: the public perception of neuroscience

2009 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. L01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donato Ramani
Keyword(s):  
Public Perception ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Present Letter ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Brain

The increasing number of magazine covers dedicated to brain studies and the success of magazines and scientific journals entirely dedicated to brain and mind indicate a strong interest on these themes. This interest is clearly surpassing the boundaries of scientific and medical researches and applications and underlines an engagement of the general public, too. This phenomenon appears to be enhanced by the increasing number of basic researches focusing on non-health-related fMRI studies, investigating aspects of personality as emotions, will, personal values and beliefs, self-identity and behaviour. The broad coverage by the media raises some central questions related to the complexity of researches, the intrinsic limits of these technologies, the results’ interpretative boundaries, factors which are crucial to properly understand the studies’ value. In case of an incomplete communication, if those fundamental interpretative elements are not well understood, we could register a misinterpretation in the public perception of the studies that opens new compelling questions. As already observed in the past debates on science and technologies applications, in this case, too, we assist to a communicative problem that set against scientific community on one side and media, on the other. Focusing our attention, in particular, on the debate on fMRI, taken as a good model, in the present letter we will investigate the most interesting aspects of the current discussion on neuroscience and neuroscience public perception. This analysis was performed as one of the bid - brains in dialogue - activities (www.neuromedia.eu). bid is a three year project supported by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Program and coordinated by Sissa, the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste, aimed at fostering dialogue between science and society on the new challenges coming from neuroscience.

scholarly journals Deadlock or Transformational Change? Exploring Public Discourse on REDD+ Across Seven Countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 63-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Di Gregorio ◽  
Maria Brockhaus ◽  
Tim Cronin ◽  
Efrian Muharrom ◽  
Sofi Mardiah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Socioeconomic Outcomes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
The Media ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Reduce Emissions

This article investigates the public discourses on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) across seven countries, to assess whether they support policy reforms. We argue that transformational discourses have at least one of these characteristics: they advocate specific policy reforms that address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation; take into account the potential risks of a REDD+ mechanism; go beyond technocratic solutions to reduce emissions; and explicitly challenge existing power relations that support drivers of deforestation. The evidence indicates the predominance of win-win storylines, a lack of engagement by state actors with debates on the potential negative socioeconomic outcomes of REDD+, and little attention to the drivers of deforestation. The article concludes that to achieve a shift toward transformational public discourse, reformist policy actors and the media need to engage dominant policy actors in debates about how to reduce pressure on the forest.

Do More — With Less: Some Challenges for the Public Service Broadcaster

1986 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Malcolm Long
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Service Broadcasting ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Media

The 1980s seems to be the decade in which public service broadcasting will have to answer for its existence as never before. Certainly in most countries, where public service broadcasting is part of the media scene, there has been the bubbling of controversy in the past: heated debates about funding; disagreements about program policies; revelations of management inefficiency and incompetence. These things are perhaps all part of the complex, somewhat neurotic love/hate relationship that audiences have with their national broadcaster. In recent years, however, the ‘debate’ about public service broadcasting has taken on a new tone. It is almost a frantic debate, conducted with a great deal of energy by government, broadcasters and audiences, and often with considerable bitterness. There is now a constant testing of the legitimacy of the public service broadcaster. Those of us who work within these organisations find that we are required regularly to make the argument for national broadcasting and to restate the philosophical assumptions that underpin its existence. Why is this so?

scholarly journals The Governor General’s Decision to Prorogue Parliament: A Chronology & Assessment

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (1, 2 & 3) ◽  
pp. 2009
Author(s):  
Andrew Heard
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Stable System ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
High Point ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Parliamentary System ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Canadian Politics ◽  
The Media

We are fortunate that real crises are few and far between in Canadian politics. We have a fundamentally stable system of government, and most political leaders both understand and play by the rules most of the time. As a result, it is something of a shock when a real crisis erupts and fundamental differences unfold over basic constitutional rules. Canada’s parliamentary system has been under increasing strain for several years, but matters came to a head in late 2008. While Governor General Michaëlle Jean’s controversial decision to grant Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s request to prorogue Parlia- ment was the high point of this crisis, there is so much more about this episode that needs to be understood. And it is crucial for us to really understand this affair because the ramifications of the 2008 crisis are profound and enduring. One reason the events erupted so quickly into a crisis is that they dealt with the unwritten rules of the constitution, which are seldom discussed in depth even at the best of times and, as a re- sult, are subject to misinterpretation and mis- representation in times of conflict. The tension was compounded by the unprecedented nature of much of what transpired. Without clear and easy parallels to similar crises in the past, the public and their advisors in the media were left confused as to what was or was not the proper course of action. Nevertheless, there were clear constitutional principles at play that would have been able to give better direction to the Gover- nor General and the Prime Minister if they had been heeded.

scholarly journals Beyond apologies Historical reflections on policy and practice relating to the out-of-home care of children in contemporary Australia

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Cuthbert
Keyword(s):  
Home Care ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Public ◽  
Black And White ◽  
The Past ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Way

A series of harrowing reports across the 1990s on the past removal of children, black and white, from their families have impacted on children and family policy in contemporary Australia, and on the way in which this is reported by the media and understood by the public. This paper briefly surveys some of these consequences and asks how we, as a community, can learn from the past with respect to questions of the welfare of children, without being burdened by that past.

scholarly journals From Information to Message: Archaeology and Media in Serbia

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 609
Author(s):  
Jasna Vuković ◽  
Miroslav Vujović
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Real Truth ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge

The paper discusses the image of archaeology and archaeologists created in the public by various media. On the grounds of analysis of the texts in which the subject of archaeology figures in newspapers and on social networks, it is demonstrated that archaeologists are mainly perceived in the public as inert “concealers” of the real truth of the past. The reason behind this is equally in the insufficient knowledge of the media, but as well in the reluctance of professional archaeologists to communicate. The paper offers an outline of long-term strategy to bridge the existing gap and inform the public about the mission and social relevance of the discipline.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document